Many of you remember (the Hans Christian Anderson) story of The Emperor's New Clothes, a penetrating account of the fraud perpetrated upon a pompous Oriental potentate by a pair of astute confidence men. Playing upon the strings of human vanity and conceit, these knaves represented themselves as skilled tailors, who at a monstrous price, fashioned clothing for the high-born from a magical fabric woven only by them and visible only to persons of noble character, unsmirched reputation, and superior intelligence. The scoundrelly tailors, of course, neither wove fabric nor made clothes, but they performed convincing motions of weaving, cutting, fitting and sewing. And so persuasive were they that the emperor paid them richly with gold for clothes which did not exist, for he feared that his character, his lineage, and his intelligence would immediately be condemned did he admit his inability to see these magical garments. After a lengthy period, during which the spurious tailors enthusiastically swindled the emperor, a royal procession was held to exhibit the magnificent new clothes. The common people, dutifully watching the pageant, were startled by the near-nudity of the undraped ruler, but, like the uppercrust of nobles, fearing that expressions of doubt concerning these wondrous garments would expose them to ridicule, they cheered the king and admired his nonexistent raiment. The fraud was exposed only when a small urchin, unknowing of human vanity and conceit, cried out in a clear voice, "Why, he isn’t wearing anything at all." -From Introduction in "The Emperor’s New Clothes or Prius Dementat" by Professor Harry J. Fuller, The Scientific Monthly, 72:32ff. January, 1951.